Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s forgotten film, The Rum Diary, is more than just a nuisance in the name of art and the fans on Reddit know it too.

For a long time now, the names of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have receded from the public memory. In the aftermath of the 2022 Depp v Heard defamation trial, the respective parties who had been at war since December 2018 finally subsided into their own corners of the Earth, enjoying a life only luxury (or, at least, residuals) can buy.

Johnny Depp [Photo by Andy Templeton, licensed under CC BY via Wikimedia Commons]

However, only a couple of years have passed since their Hollywood controversy shook the tinsel town out of its slumber and engaged the entire world in a united mockery of the trial. Although it is hard to imagine the two actors ever being social again, once upon a time, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met, fell in love, and got married before the ugliness settled into their relationship.

Johnny Depp & Amber Heard: The Movie That Started It All

In any other situation, the 83-year-old filmmaker Terry Gilliam would be celebrated for breathing life into classics like 12 Monkeys and Time Bandits. Ever since his heydays with the Monty Python troupe, Gilliam has had an eye for the unique and the extraordinary. However, the celebrated director’s choices were called into question when his mediocre film led to the production of The Rum Diary.

The Rum Diary feat. Amber Heard and Johnny Depp [Credit: Hollywood Pictures]

Constructed as the sequel to Gilliam’s 1998 film, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, both movies were adapted from Hunter S. Thompson’s novels with the same names. The difference between the two, however, was in their respective adaptations.

Both films were somewhat amiss in their chosen manner of translation for the big screen by refusing to follow the source text while developing the screenplay for the movie version. When Fear and Loathing failed to impress the audience, future director Bruce Robinson should have immediately rejected its sequel, let alone getting it greenlit for production.

Granted that there have been franchises where the sequels were far more successful than the first film, such films were always helmed by a single visionary director, be it James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, or Peter Jackson. Bruce Robinson’s film lacks the proficiency of these directors while also veering off-course while adapting Thompson’s novel for the big screen.

The Discrepancy in the Source to Film Adaptation

To say that The Rum Diary was not well received would be an understatement. The film starring Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was highly criticized for its plot, scope, and quality of content. And although the cinematography was much appreciated by a certain faction of the audience, the overall film failed to hold up in comparison to its source material.

The Rum Diary (2011) [Credit: Hollywood Pictures]

Fans on the Reddit movie forum banded together to collectively diss the film. As per one user, the experience of the film could be summed up in these words: “The film seemed to end twenty minutes too late. It comes to closure and then just sort of keeps going? In the end I was just sort of disappointed.”

Another user, GenerationKILL, who watched the film after having read Hunter S. Thompson’s novels, commented:

Read the book?

Because if you have, you’d know that everything about that movie was crap, including its marketing campaign which was aimed at people looking for a “gonzo-party-fest” movie similar to “Fear and Loathing…”

Which was so far removed from his personality when compiling “The Rum Diary…”

Others also held the film adaptation to a similar opinion, claiming: “I felt like it was trapped between a debauched comedy and a political awareness piece, nowhere near as good as the book.” Moreover, elaborating on the style and technicality of the plot, a fan explained:

I really dug the book, I like HST’s style and Depp’s interpretation, etc. Really wanted to like the movie, but it’s just dull. It misses at least one key scene in the middle and I think the climax is absolutely borked as well, or maybe I just wasn’t into it by that point of the movie.

Also, on a technical level, not well put together. Picture is regularly underexposed, poorly lit, poorly staged, stiff. Audio is very mumbly. I was disappointed.

Meanwhile, others simply settled for a brief but effective: “READ Hunter S. Thompson. Do nothing else.”

Despite starring high-profile names in the supporting cast roster such as Aaron Eckhart and Giovanni Ribisi, the 2011 film ascended to a rating of 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. After opening to a dismal $5 million, The Rum Diary went on to earn $30 million against its $45 million budget [Box Office Mojo].